Tile ring



Sept. 18, 1962 c, 5, 55 3,054,266

TILE RING Filed Aug. 8, 1957 10 14 12 I 14 10 I 12 14 -r- 3 10 25" a ZZ INVENTOR Cap; ero/vfi fscfl,

States Patent 3,054,266 THE RING Carleton B, Esch, Indianapolis, Ind., assignorto Rings, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., a corporationof Indiana Filed Aug. 8, 1957, Ser. No. 677,039 Claims. (CI. 6111) This invention relates to a tile ring, and more particu larly to a tile ring for aligning and spacing the adjacent ends of field or drain tiles, that is, of tiles which are not sealed to one another.

In laying field tiles, for example in laying the finger system of a septic system, it has heretofore been the practice to place the tiles on a bed of gravel in a trench in an end-to-end relationship and spaced slightly apart, to place pieces of tar paper or similar material over the open joints between adjacent tiles, and then to cover the tiles with gravel and fill in the trench. With this practice, the tiles frequently become misaligned, and the pieces of tar paper are frequently moved out of position, causing 0&- sets in the tile line and permitting earth and gravel to enter the tiles. Devices previously proposed for overcoming these disadvantages have proven unsatisfactory, and are both costly and difiicu'lt to install.

Itis the general object of my invention to overcome the disadvantages noted above by providing an inexpensive and easily installed tile ring which will interconnect adjacent tiles and secure them in spaced alignment, and which will prevent the entrance of gravel through the spaces between the tile.

In accordance with the invention, the tile ring is preferably made of sheet-meta1, and comprises an annular web which desirably has the same shape as the cross-section of the tile with which the ring is to be used. Desirably, the web stands mid-way between the spaced ends of the tiles to divide the space into narrow openings through which gravel will not pass. To so position the web and to hold the tile in spaced relationship, the web of the ring at spaced points thereabout is deformed in opposite directions from the plane of the web, conveniently by having dimples pressed in the web to form short bosses thereon, with different bosses projecting in opposite directions from the plane of the web. At one or both edges of the annular web, there are a plurality of circumferentially spaced fingers standing normal to the plane of the web to engage the inside or outside or both sides of the adjacent tile ends, desirably with a set of at least three fingers or pairs of fingers extending into engagement with each tile end. In a preferred construction, the fingers along one edge of the annular web have wide bases which spring from the web along curved lines of considerable circumferential length, so that their formation involves more than mere bending and produces a configuration in which the webs and fingers strengthen and stiffen each other. The bases of the oppositely standing fingers are desirably of such circumferential length that the strengthening and stiffening which they produce in the web is substantially continuous about the annular web; and at points on the web between areas of stiffening by the up-standing and down-standing fingers, the web may be further stifiened by deformation, as by forming dimples at such points.

The accompanying drawings illustrate any invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of a septic system having a finger system employing my invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a tile ring embodying my invention;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section of a pair of field tiles interconnected by the ring shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a modified form of my invention;

Patented Sept, 18, 1962 FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section of a pair of field tiles interconnected by the ring shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of another modified tile ring embodying my invention.

As illustrated in the drawings, my tile rings 14 may be used in a conventional septic system to space and align the adjacent ends of field tiles 16 forming the finger system 12 for draining the outflow from the septic tank 11. The tile rings l i rare conveniently formed as sheet-metal 'stampings, and the metal need not be, and desirably is not corrosion-resistant, for corrosion is desirable to permit partial or complete disintegration of the ring after the tiles have become firmly embedded and stabilized in position and the surrounding earth has fully settled.

The tile ring 14 shown in FIGS. 2 and3 comprises an annular web '15 with a series of alternately upstanding fingers 16 and down-standing fingers 17 about its inner peripheral edge. Each finger or lip 16 and 17 has a wide base joined to the annular web 15 along an arc of substantially so that the bases of the up-standing and down-standing fingers substantially meet. The fingers 16 and 17 are formed by deforming upwardly and downwardly from the plane of the web 15 tongues of sheetmetal which originally extended inward from the web. Because of the width of the bases of the fingers and the fact that they join the web over a substantial arc, their" formation involves more than bending, and causes such metal flow and deformation of the metal that both the fingers and the web are substantially stiffened, and the stiffening of the web by the wide bases is substantially, continuous about the circumferential extent of the web.

At spaced points about the ring 14, the web 15 is provided with otfsets or other deformations which stand up from the opposite faces of the web 15 to space that web between the abutting faces of the adjacent tile ends. In the ring of FIGS. 2 and 3, these offsets or deformations are in the form of dimples 20 and 21 pressed in the web 15 at spaced points along the circumferential'median line between its inner and outer peripheries. The dimple-s are desirably formed in groups with each group containing dimples 2i) projecting in one direction and adjacent" dimples 2'1 projecting in the opposite direction. As shown, each group contains three dimples, with one downpressed dimple 21 lying between two up-pressed dimples, 24).

it is noted that the stitfering efiect of the fingers 16 and 17 is at a minimum at the points betwen the bases of adjacent fingers. A group of dimples 20 and 21 is desirably located at each of these points, for the dimple de formation will stiffen the web 15 at those points. I

As is shown in FIG. 3, the tile ring 14 is placed between the adjacent ends of a pair of tiles 10. The web 15 stands betwen the end faces 18 of the tiles, with the tops of the dimples 20 and 21 engaged against those end 5 faces. The three up-standing fingers or lips 16 project into the open end of one tile 10 and engage its innen wall to align the tile ring with that tile. The oppositely ex tending fingers 17 extend into the open end of the op posite tile and engage its inner wall, to align the tile ring 0 with the opposite tile. The tile ring 14 thus spaces the two tiles 10 from each other and holds them in alignment. Moreover, the web 15 of the tile ring stands substantially mid-way between the end faces 18 of the two tiles and divides the space, so that while a wide spacing may be had betwen the two tiles, only relatively narrow openings are presented. The assembly will thus readily permit the escape of liquid but will prevent the entrance of small gravel of the size commonly used around tile lines.

While a loose fit of the tile ring in the tiles is effective to align and space the tiles, I desirably form the fingers 16 and 17 to yieldingly engage the Walls of the tiles with sutficient frictional tightness so that the ring will be self-retaining in the tile, for this facilitates assembly of the rings in a line of tile.

In the modified form of my invention shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the sheet-metal ring 22 has an annular web 23 with pairs of axially extending fingers 25 and 26 disposed at spaced intervals around the circumference of the web. Each pair of fingers comprises a relatively narrow finger 25 along the outer circumference of the web 23 and a relatively wide finger 26 along the inner circumference opposite the finger 25. The pairs of fingers 25-26 stand outwardly from the web 23 in alternately opposite axial directions to engage the adjacent ends of a pair of tiles, with the outer fingers 25 lying against the outer faces of the tiles and the inner fingers 26 lying against the inner faces of the tiles.

Disposed around the web 23 are groups of offsets or dimples 28 having the same form and function as the groups of offsets 2021 of the modification of FIGS. 2 and 3. In this case, however, each group of offsets 28 is disposed in the Web area between a pair of fingers 25 and 26. The offsets 28 engage the adjacent end faces of a pair of tiles to space the tiles from the ring and from each other.

In the modification of FIG. 6, the tile ring is similar to that of FIG. 2 in that it has fingers 36 and 37 along only one peripheral edge of the web 35; but in this case, the fingers are on the outer periphery. While I prefer to use fingers in sets of three fingers or pairs of fingers standing outward from each face of the web, I may use a different number. Thus, in FIG. 6, there are four fingers of each set, with those of the two sets arranged in alternately opposite directions.

In FIG. 6, the dimples 30 and 31 are in groups of two, respectively projecting from oposite faces of the web 35, which illustrates that other arrangements can be used.

Instead of dimples, other spacing projections can be used, such as bent-up tongues or strips, corrugations, and the like, but I prefer to use dimples or bosses as shown.

In using my tile rings in laying a drain line, the base for the line is prepared in the usual way as by filling the bottom of a trench with a bed of gravel; and the tiles are laid in end-to-end relation along the bed. As each tile is laid, a tile ring is inserted in its open end, and the next tile in then laid against the tile ring. The oppositely extending bosses of the web of the tile ring space the tiles from the web and from each other. The fingers of the tile ring engage the inner (FIGS. 2-3), the outer (FIG. 6), or both (FIGS. 4-5) circumferential surfaces of the adjacent tile ends, to position and hold the tiles in align ment. When the desired length of tile line is laid, it is covered in the usual way, as by filling in a layer of gravel over the tiles and then filling the trench with dirt. During such filling, the narrowness of the openings between the rings and the tiles prevents the entrance of gravel into the tile line. Further, the tile rings hold the tiles in line both during such filling operations and while the filled material is settling. When the gravel and dirt around the tile line is settled and stabilized, the main function of the adjacent tile ends from the web and 4 tile rings will have been completed, and the rings may and desirably do corrode away.

I claim as my invention:

1. A tile ring, comprising a single formed sheet-metal member having an annular fiat web adapted to stand opposite the end face of a tile, a plurality of fingers bent from the plane of said Web and standing from the plane of the web in alternately opposite axial directions, said fingers being formed with bases springing from said web along curved bend lines of considerable extent circumferentially of the web to stiffen the same, the material of the web at points between the fingers being deformed to provide bosses for spacing the web from the end face of a tile with which the ring is used, said boss deformation serving to stiffen the ring web in the areas between the fingers, whereby the web is stiffened over substantially its entire annular extent by said finger bases and boss deformation.

2. A tile ring for spacing and locating the adjacent ends of cylindrical drain or field tiles, comprising a single formed sheet-metal member having a circumferentiallycontinuous annular flat web substantially corresponding to the end configuration of the tile and adapted to stand between and generally parallel to the end faces of adjacent tiles, sets of tile engaging fingers extending in opposite axial directions from said web for engaging axial wall surfaces of adjacent tiles to position the ends thereof in substantial registry with the web and with each other, each said set comprising at least three fingers bent from the plane of the web about a peripheral bend line and standing in circumferentially-spaced relation along a peripheral edge of said web, and a plurality of circumferentially-spaced deformations formed in said web in opposite directions from the plane thereof to space the from each other and to position the Web in sub-dividing relation in the space between the tile ends, said deformations and the circumferential spacing between the fingers providing narrow openings between the web and the adjacent end-faces of the tiles.

3. A tile ring as set forth in claim 2 in which said fingers are disposed along the inner periphery of said web.

4. A tile ring as set forth in claim 2 in which said fingers are disposed along the outer periphery of said web.

5. A tile ring as set forth in claim 2 in which the fingers of oppositely extending sets are arranged in alternate relationship about the periphery of the web and join said web on bend lines which extend in arcs of considerable angular extent about the periphery of the web to stiffen the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,625,688 Shaeifer Apr. 19, 1927 2,025,794 Venzie Dec. 31, 1935 2,029,920 Gutman Feb. 4, 1936 2,116,165 Ullman May 3, 1938 2,834,185 Suttle May 13, 1958 2,893,212 Holicky July 7, 1959 

